1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to copying stored data into a memory and more specifically to pre-fetching data into the memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic data is stored in a digital device such as a computer, server, network appliance, or the like. The digital device typically comprises two or more memories in which the data is stored. These memories may include faster memory such as random access memory (e.g., RAM), and slower memory such as a disk (e.g., hard disk). Typically, the digital device has much more slower memory than faster memory. Further, the faster memory is typically more volatile than the slower memory.
In the digital device, a request for data is received. The digital device then retrieves the data from either the slower memory or the faster memory. The digital device typically processes the data that is retrieved. The time for data retrieval depends on whether the data is stored in the faster memory or in the slower memory. Typically, the greatest delay in data retrieval is caused by retrieving the data from the slower memory.
When multiple data requests are received in succession, a queue of data packets may be formed. The length of the queue is largely dependent on the number of retrieves from the slower memory that are required and the amount of processing of each packet after the data is retrieved from the slower memory or the faster memory. Typically, retrieval from the slower memory requires more time than the processing of a packet. To reduce the amount of time required to execute a request for data, a system and method for reducing the number of retrieves from the slower memory is needed.